We’re proud to report that our fab clients at Backyard, took part in this year’s Commercial Directors Diversity Program as a sponsor + mentor for a young director, Kryzz Gautier. On July 31, 2018 a showcase of this year’s graduating class was held at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The CDDP is a program created by the AICP and the DGA as part of its contract negotiations. CDDP reflects the commitment of both organizations to effect change and increase the representation of women and other historically underrepresented groups of people in commercial directing.

Each director participant was tasked with writing and pitching their own :60 script and producing that script on a very limited budget. Backyard took them through a typical commercial pitch process and production, acting as a sounding board and mentor for their creative ideas and overall helping them to accomplish their ultimate goal of a solid :60.

BY EP Emily Malito affirms that, “Kryzz is a talented director whose own personal experiences as a woman of color and a member of the LGBTQ community influence her content and motivate her desire to be a strong voice in the film community. She’s an impressive creative force.”

This is her spot:

ABOUT KRYZZ GAUTIER

Kryzz was born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 2009 she immigrated to Boston to attend Emerson College where she focused her studies in Directing Narrative Fiction, Photography, and Music Appreciation. Kryzz quickly became an award winning writer/director receiving multiple international accolades. To name a few: “Marasma” (2011) was in the running for the Region 2 Student Academy Awards finalists. “A Foolish Companion” (2012) was nominated for “Outstanding Cinematic Achievement” at the EVW Awards and went on to win, amongst other things, “Best Screenplay” and “Best Short Film” at the Women In Shorts Festival, the “Audience Award” at the National Broadcasting Society Festival, and was invited to screen at the Ibero-American Festival. ”All Lit Up” (2011) won an EVW Award for “Best Single Camera Direction”. “Not A Love Story” (2015) won “Best Short Film”, “Best Screenplay”, and “Best Editing” at across the festival circuit. In 2014 Kryzz was selected as one of NBC’s Top 100 for their Directing Fellowship. In 2015 Kryzz wrote and directed a pilot for Lifetime/A&E Studios. In 2017 Kryzz became one of the founders of Violeta, a production and distribution platform focused on creating better representation for LGBT women and being talked about as “the Netflix for queer women”.

http://schafferrogers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-21-at-6.23.38-PM.png5371057Coreyhttp://dev.goodtreecompany.com/sites/sr4/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/sr4-logo-3.pngCorey2018-08-13 17:24:372018-10-12 17:34:59BACKYARD Giving Back Through the Commercial Director Diversity Program